Job 22:15-16 (ESV)

Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod?

They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away.

Eliphaz responds to Job in chapter 22 by saying that clearly Job is a wicked man. If only he would repent, then God would restore his wealth. To make his argument he recalls the flood of Noah’s time. “Will you keep to the old way?” The old way was the way of wickedness, violence, and rebellion that led to the destruction of the earth through a flood. “Their foundation was washed away.” Eliphaz’s assessment of the past is accurate. His application to Job’s life is flawed. His own presuppositions led him to misuse and misapply truth.

Eliphaz queries, “Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you” (Job 22:4 ESV)? He is suggesting that Job does not fear God (see verses 12-14). Job’s pain and suffering must be an attempt by God to teach Job to fear him. If only he feared God more he wouldn’t be such a great sinner. If only he feared God more he wouldn’t be experiencing God’s judgment. The problem is that he is putting words in God’s mouth. For God, the issue has nothing to do with whether Job fears him. It has everything to do with proving Job’s faithfulness to the accuser.

Eliphaz spoke truth wrongly applied. How often we do that! Truth needs to be coupled with discernment. Proverbs 4:7 says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.” Eliphaz failed to get insight. He failed to use discernment. Further, truth needs to be understood in the proper context. Naomi told Ruth to go down to the threshing floor, observe where Boaz lay down to sleep, and then go uncover his feet and lie down for the night. There is some cultural and historical context to that passage that we may not understand, but it is hardly good advice for a young woman looking for a husband today. Can you imagine a mother suggesting to her daughter that the way for her daughter to find a husband is to find out where he is sleeping and lie at his feet all night? That it is truth taken out of context.

Cults take truth out of context. False teachers take truth out of context. Abusive leaders take truth out of context. Biblical believers cannot afford to do that. We must be diligent to handle God’s word accurately (see 2 Tim 2:15). Truth needs to be properly applied. To do that truth needs to be coupled with discernment and understood in its proper context. Further, we need to make sure that we are actually speaking truth, and not just our perception of truth.

The Holy Spirit who inspired every word of the scriptures is the same Holy Spirit who dwells within every believer. He is the same Holy Spirit that Jesus said would lead us into all truth (John 16:13). Rather than assuming that we know the truth, we need to make this our daily prayer, “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (Ps 25:5 ESV). Maybe if Job’s friends had understood this, they would have turned out to be better friends.